Eva Destruction
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Posts
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So inspired by Pro Payne's experiment, and because I need something to make leveling up another character interesting, I too am conducting a 1-50 in MA experiment.
My name is Dawnrazor. I am a Katana/Invul Scrapper. I am currently Security Level 1, and standing in the lobby of the Galaxy City AE building. My mission: to get to level 50, and trick myself out with IOs, using only the Architect Entertainment system.
The parameters of this experiment are as follows:
I will not earn experience outside of MA. I will be leaving on occasion, to get my Safeguards, and collect accolades and unlockable weapons, but I will turn off XP outside MA and run on the lowest difficulty to minimize inf gain. I will be using the market to earn inf and buy IOs, but I will only purchase items for my own personal use, and to craft recipes earned through ticket rolls (ie no flipping or buying recipes to craft and resell).
The only time I'll earn any XP outside of MA is when I finish a mission with a smidge to level and there is nothing left to kill, then I'll grab a badge or three to ding rather than play through most of the next mission at -1.
I will need arcs to play. Lots of arcs. Feel free to suggest arcs, however whether or not I play a suggested arc depends entirely on a few factors:
I will not play any arc with Extreme anything in it, ever. If I see that warning, the arc is off my list, UNLESS the arc description or the post in this thread indicates that the Extreme critters are friendlies or noncombatants.
I will not play any arc with Custom Groups and a level range of 1-54. The only 1-54 arcs I'll play are ones that contain standard groups like Council, Longbow, or Arachnos.
I will not fight custom Archvillains before SOs.
I will not be sidekicking up to play arcs. If you submit an arc above my current level, I will put it in the list, and wait until I reach that level to play it. I will be updating the thread frequently, so please don't post arcs way way above my current level. If I run out of arcs, I'm going to use the "random" button to search for Final and Looking for Feedback arcs at My Level.
I would like to avoid exemping. I realize that you still earn XP while exemped, but I like getting new powers. Once I start collecting set bonuses, I would like to keep those as well. I will be posting updates, with my current level; please don't submit arcs below that level.
The ultimate deciding factor on whether or not I play an arc is simply, do I feel like it right now? If the description makes it sound like something that just won't appeal to me, I won't play it. If I want to run a quick arc, I won't play a five-mission epic. If I've played five CoT arcs in the last week, I probably won't want to play a sixth.
Another thing I am going to be a jerk about: My difficulty settings. I'll be running at +0/x1/no/no until SOs. After that it'll be +1/x1/yes/no, after I get Invinciblity at 28 it'll be +1/x2/yes/no, and it'll go up from there. I may turn it down a notch for an arc marked "challenge" or anything with custom critters in the 20s, but I'm not going too far below my usual difficulty, or deviating too much from my usual playstyle. If I have to pull on every spawn, or run to the inspiration vendor every few minutes, then your arc is probably too hard for my level.
And yes, I know the weaknesses of my powersets. I won't be judging an arc "too hard" simply because it contains something my powersets do poorly against. I've also played a LOT of other powersets, and I think I'm qualified to tell the difference between poor balance/deliberate player-killer and my own personal Achilles heel.
Why am I being such a jerk about these things? As I play more and more arcs, I have come to realize that one of the major draws of the system, the ability to create and fight unique custom enemies that you have never encountered before, is being horribly abused by people who don't know what they're doing and can't be bothered to learn, or who stubbornly refuse to help make the system more user-friendly. Bad custom groups are helping to drive people away from MA I think, and so I want to discourage them as much as possible.
Reviews? Maybe. Depends how this goes.
Edit: Forgot to add: I will play arcs of any genre, and even though I am a hero I will play villainous arcs, as long as the enemy groups spawn properly for heroes. (If they don't, please state the "heroic" level range of the arc in your post.)
Things I like: Good use of mechanics to tell a story. Lots of flavor objectives. Stuff to read, and yes I do read everything.
Things I don't like: Disjointed level ranges. 1-54 level range. Big maps full of enemies standing around doing nothing. The aforementioned overpowered customs. Overpowered allies. "Optional" objectives that really aren't (like the "optional" AV blocking the hallway).
Oh, and please state the Arc ID and level range of the arc when you submit to this thread, for ease of making my "to play" list. -
Quote:Moonfire, Synapse and Manticore have already been mentioned, but there's alsoOriginally Posted by TyrantMikey
So, I could probably use a lot of help in beefing up my knowledge of which taskforces are good matches for badge acquisition. Some of that, I'm sure, can be gleaned from ParagonWiki (a prime research tool).
Sister Psyche: Tank Buster
Eden Trial and Numina: Protectorate
Silver Mantis: Infiltrator, Tracer, Finder, Slayer
Katie Hannon: the Cabal badge (can't remember what it's called)
Some story arcs are also good for certain badges, especially if you run them with a team:
Jim Tremblor and Penelope Yin: Finder, and Yin's arc gives the Rescuer badge at the end.
Levantera and Serpent Drummer: Zookeeper
Completing the Croatoa arcs will virtually guarantee Cap Buster, Bane of Danaan, and the Fir Bolg badge.
All accomplishment badge missions, with the exception of Efficiency Expert, are available through Ouroboros. You can do them that way if you don't want to be locked into a story arc, and you get merits for doing them through flashback.
Defeating giant monsters also gives two merits, you might want to mention this when forming a team for them, since it gives some incentive to help for people who don't care about badges. -
Quote:Since I was generating all the recipes myself rather than buying them up, I didn't have to wait for them to buy, and I could price my stuff to move without worrying too much about profit margins.Originally Posted by Archie Gremlin
Wow. That extra billion didn't take long.
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Just saw this, sounds fun, is it too late to sign up?
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Aaaand, here we are, double ebil.
Now if you'll excuse me, I think I see a set of Hecatomb with my name on it. -
Wait, so if I've already played an arc twice for fun, I can be a cheaterpants too and play it again just to get it on the list?
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Quote:I got the same comment for suggesting it's probably a bug, so ignore it.Originally Posted by Not_Epsilon
Wait Wait! I have to post something about a hyperbole and how becuase someone disagrees with me, it somehow requires them to leave -reputation and use words they don't understand!!!
Hyperbole: A strong overstatement, exageration.
Fine you aren't an english whiz, Mmmk, but using words that you don't know what they mean is generally bad.
The previous post was, more or less, literal, rational and not quite the overstatement.
SSK is irrelevant to level 50 ticket farmers, and many boss farms auto-SKd to 50 anyway.Quote:The reason for the stopage of farming in MA isn't the custom critter changes, its the SSK system, which allows for people to PL without bridges albeit slower. With JUST the SSK there would have been a large farmer exodus from MA.
The serious reduction in rewards for all-boss and all-lieutenant groups is what did it. If you have to fight all three ranks, you might as well do it solo, in regular content where there are no caps on rewards and you get a chance at purples.
Many of these changes were implemented late in the testing process for an issue that focused around power customization. They were poorly tested before the issue went live, so many bugs weren't caught.Quote:I know this is a little bit of a tangent, but with all the non-logical changes flying around and bugs accompanying them, I am severely annoyed.
Now that it has gone live, the chances of these bugs being found and squashed in a timely fashion is a lot lower, since this forum is notable for the same issues being brought up over and over again for months without receiving any developer attention. -
Quote:Partial yay!Originally Posted by Catwhoorg
I haven't been on test myself, but it has been posted that Oro has been fixed as not being affected as of todays patch
It's not just the Master badges. The lower difficulty makes speed runs even faster. People doing the -1 runs rack up merits like mad. Merit rewards get lowered, everybody else complains, and rightly so.Quote:Originally Posted by Iannis
I think Positron should've just made you take the maximum level bump difficulty option to earn Master of badges. I think he thinks of badges as a bit of a joke anyway (back when he put ONE of those Infected at the RV train just to shut up badgers before you could Ouro Isolator? lol)
Don't get why people get in such a twist over Master badges, honestly, not unless they get tied into an Accolade or costume unlocks. I assume it's the same people that get offended they don't have a Dev come and award them the rare Bug Hunter badge for finding a typo in an ancient blueside story arc or something.
Then there's the fact that encounters that are designed as "the hardest encounters in the game" are trivialized to the point that my Scrapper got two tells this weekend inviting me to a MoITF run. Seriously, how many people actually seek out a PuG Scrapper on a Master of anything run? -
Also note all the low- to mid-level arcs being listed.
"The Extadine Lab" is a single mission, the kind of arc I'd replay if I needed half a bar to level and didn't feel like looking for anything new to try, since decent short arcs are hard to find amid a sea of farms and other garbage. -
Quote:Build Up is never on Standard for anything, afaik. I wasn't aware MoG was even available.Originally Posted by Justice Blues
I don't know which set you are using, but Build Up is sometimes a Standard level power (which is not smart, but happens.
) so you might want to check that and be sure. MoG is definitely not the problem though. Or it could be you are the proud owner of a shiny new bug, lucky you.
I was able to add powers to the Standard setting on my customs and they still awarded xp, so I would go with the proud owner of a shiny new bug theory. -
Ctrl + Alt + Reset by Bubbawheat.
It's shorter than it looks, and a good go-to arc when I'm in that level range and don't feel like looking for something my level. Plus all the optional clues in that one mission are neat, every time I've run it I've caught a referrence I missed before.
That's pretty much the only one I can think of, but there are lots of arcs I've run twice. -
I'll take....Cambodia and Finland.
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Quote:So am I, except for those characters who are out of content and need Ouro to get those properly-dropping drops, since I find farming eye-gougingly dull.Originally Posted by Catwhoorg
I, personally, am very happy about the drop rate fix.
No doom here, sorry.
Meh, they've waited around for increased difficulties, they've waited for the drop rate to be fixed, they can wait a little longer I guess. -
I choose Liechtenstein and Romania.
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Quote:A WoW thing. You activate the WoW equivalent of Personal Force Field, then use your hearthstone to recall you to an inn, and away from whoever is kicking your butt in PvP.Originally Posted by SpaceNut
Can someone explain and/or translate "Bubble Hearthers"?
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Quote:They are allowed to exercise that power. It's just different people exercising it. The guy with the most money trumps the guy with the biggest gun. It's easy to condemn vigilante justice if you assume the justice system will actually do justice. I'm not that idealistic.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I don't agree with letting people be judge, jury and executioner, because I don't trust people in general to make the right call. In fact, I agree with having law enforcement taken OUT of the hands of ordinary people. This is not the Wild West where everyone carries a gun and only those who can shoot the fastest or have the most followers are right. It's easy to support vigilante justice if you assume empowered people will only do good and justice. That isn't the case. In fact, I guarantee you that empowering people to pass down their own justice will see a resurgence of all the old hatreds we like to think we've forgotten. They still exist, and the only reason people don't enact them is because they aren't allowed to exercise that power.
I'm far more trusting of the motives and values of a guy who stands up to a single bully on someone else's behalf than of the guy who "stands up" to all bullies everywhere on national television surrounded by bullies of his own.
At what point does it become serious enough? Maybe you're right, maybe the guy who walks down the sidewalk with no consideration for those around him doesn't deserve an elbow in the chest. Except that in most cases that guy can easily gain access to a car, at which point his lack of concern for anyone but himself goes from annoying to potentially deadly.Quote:And another thing - I never advocated ignoring things because "they're not my problem." I advocate ignoring things because they are not a SERIOUS problem. "What-ifs" aside, I was witness to a drama scene on a bus a couple of moths ago, when a girl was asked to remove her foot off a floor plate, it's difficult to explain, exactly. Except she made a BIG problem out of it as to how DARE they tell her to do that when other people are doing it and the bus isn't clean otherwise so why is this important and so on and so forth. At some level, she might have even been right, but it doesn't change the fact that she was asked to do a simple thing, and she turned it into an epic. I've been yelled at by people for very simple mistakes, myself, and somehow they never seem to accept "Oops! I didn't mean to!"
It is not my place to drive culture and courtesy into the heads of strangers, specifically since I'm more than positive my view of culture and courtesy isn't exactly objective. Unless is becomes a real problem, elbowing people in the chest over it is the worst case of tempest in a teapot I can think of without going into extraordinary events.
That sounds more like a bully throwing a temper tantrum when he didn't get his way, rather than someone trying to enforce their beliefs on you. That guy doesn't really care how you drive. You got in his way. He lashed out, and in so doing endangered your safety, as well as his own and that of other drivers. Of course, you can't do anything about it, and neither can anyone who witnessed the incident, so the idiot will probably go on to endanger more drivers.Quote:Here's a good example of why I'm afraid of this. This is from a couple of years ago, and demonstrates the absurd idea some drivers have of how people should drive. I came into the left, fast lane of a main road, but wasn't moving very fast because I was looking to make a U turn in about 100-200 feet, but some guy with a fast car was riding my bumper, honking a lot. Never you mind I was at the speed limit, because I was in the left lane, I was expected to floor it. Typically I just ignore angry drivers, but this guy speeds up, passes me from the right, reaches out of his window and slaps my right side mirror closed. I'm fairly sure that if we'd both stopped, he'd have pulled out a baseball bat and smashed my windshield. All of that because drivers in my country are idiots and believe that speed limits don't apply to them. This kind of behaviour is something I want to DISCOURAGE as much as I can. -
Quote:Someone else's self-righteous beliefs can be utterly and completely IGNORED. I have, in my life, been told I am a terrible person, been called all kinds of names, have been told my immortal soul is in peril, and that I don't have a right to exist, simply because people don't agree with me, and feel that they are better than me. And yet, I am still here. These people only have power if you let them.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I have seen more appalling things come out of people with the belief that it rests upon them to fix society and make people more like they feel they should be than out of self-interested, callous people. I mean, a callous person would shoulder me out of his way or take my seat on a bus when I stand up to reach into my pocket, but that'll be about it. If I suffer from it, too bad, and if I don't, he doesn't care. On the other hand, a self-righteous person will make sure that not only do fail in what I wanted to do, but that I also feel ROTTEN afterwards. It is this malice, the belief that you have to make the other feel bad because YOU believe they did something wrong, is where the really bad things happen.
Unfortunately, attitudes like yours, that "it's not your place to fix things," lead to those who are the least suited to change things being the only ones who actually attempt to do so. Nobody bothers to stand up to them, because "it's not my problem" or even worse, "I have no right." At some point these self-righteous views of how things "should" be become social policy, whether enforced by law or by the stigma attached to not adhering to them, simply because too many people feel its not their place to change things.
So who's responsibility is it? Law enforcement only exists because the common people allow it to exist. Laws themselves only exist because people allow them to. The fact that these laws are being created and enforced by people who in many cases are just as arrogant and self-serving as these people you claim you have no right to pass judgment on doesn't bother you?Quote:It really comes down to this - should I feel justified in enacting "punishment" against a person based solely and only of my understanding of wrong-doing and my measurement of the amount of wrong? In my opinion, no, I should not, because I have neither the authority nor, indeed, the wisdom to be judge, jury and executioner, to use a slightly extreme turn of phrase. I feel neither qualified, nor indeed deserving of the right to pass down judgement and punishment. The most I can do is explain to people why I feel they are wrong and hope they understand. Obviously, arrogant offenders are going to just blow me off, but really, you're not going to change their way unless you strong-arm them, and I would NOT leave this responsibility in the hands of common people. In fact, the notion of it scares me a LOT.
Yeah. I wish you the best of luck with that. Unfortunately there are those less fortunate than you, who cannot avoid the bad. You and I can duck out of the way of a negligent cyclist. The old woman with a walker cannot.Quote:On the other hand, and this is something I've seen in real life and here - confronting actually good, decent people with what you perceive they did wrong will often cause them to stop, rethink their actions and maybe even change, even a little bit. And, really, it's the good people that I want to try and change for the better. The bad people I can't change, but I can simply avoid. -
Quote:I could get behind that, as long as it was based on XP/inf gained from mob defeats in the mission. Otherwise, too exploitable.Originally Posted by Hercules
Three things are needed IMO:
1. Give MA arcs the same completion bonus that normal missions have.
They've already nerfed missions that contain only bosses, a good move IMO - a mission bonus would equalize things and possibly increase AE usage.
We have had absolutely no dev acknowledgement that any of the bugs people have reported over and over again exist, no indication that they are being looked at, or will be fixed anytime soon. Pretty much all dev comments regarding MA have been aimed at abusers. People who use the system "as intended" are rewarded with silence.Quote:Originally Posted by Wrong_Number
I agree on all of your points and especially wish the Dev's would open up a dialog with the players about MA. Continued silence makes it seem like they don't care and plan to leave the current MA issues unaddressed.
WN
Oh, and changes that are made to MA mechanics often get no patch note. We didn't get one when maps were removed. We didn't get one when the generator was removed, or put back in. We didn't get one when i16 added a bunch of "middle" spawn points to the backs and fronts of maps, making them utterly useless for a lot of authors. Meanwhile, we DO get a patch note when some power is tweaked to do 20 more points of damage in PvP. -
Are you using the same character to run the local version and the published version?
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Quote:This may be WAI. An ally or captive objective counts as completed when the last enemy guarding them is defeated, so if you have no enemies that happens immediately. Also, the Inactive and Active dialogue are based on the guards' reactions; if there are no guards, the "before rescue" dialogue still has to go off, and so it goes off when the ally is "rescued," ie when you enter the mission.Originally Posted by BlueRaptor
* either allies or captives with no surrounding enemies (e.g. so you just have to FIND them) gives the messages and rewards wrong:
+ The 'Rescued Dialog' spawns correctly when you find and walk up to them, but
- the 'Inactive Dialog', 'Active Dialog' and 'Completed Text' come up immediately upon entering the mission
- the Recued Clue is given immediately upon entering the mission
- the ally or captive immediately counts as rescued for the mission goals as well.
(seen on a Tech:Abandoned indoor map)
It's like a boss fight; if you take a boss from full to 1/2 health in a single shot, he will still say his 3/4 health line.
This happens whether the ally is standing on the caltrops or not. All "pets" (caltrops, earthquake, that sonic debuff thing, etc) spawned by the guarding group must be gone before the group counts as defeated and the ally, captive, or escort can be rescued.Quote:* Allied cannot be rescued while they receive DoT damage from area attacks
Seen with caltrops. The ally ended up in the caltrop area, and didnt move nor only count as rescued until the caltrops disappeared and stopped damaging him. -
I'm one of those people who commented on the use of the Carnie map. Those circus tents are just out of place in any mission that doesn't specifically reference 1) Carnies or 2) the circus, as part of the mission; the explanation you used for it felt tacked-on. The map doesn't feel like part of the city, it feels like a Carnie map.
Any city map would work, as then the Rikti would just be setting up shop in "some part of the city." The Kings Row maps especially have that dingy feel suitable to the tone of the arc. An RWZ map would also work, as long as you explain the Vanguard bunkers. -
Quote:In answer to the first thing: There are often reasons for an author to create an enemy group, usually for limited use, that is missing a rank due to file size constraints. Since these groups, when used for story purposes, nearly always contain minions, a better solution to the xp reductions would be to only apply them to groups that don't contain minions.Originally Posted by Dalghryn
What I don't understand, and what no one else seems to have mentioned, is why the developers can't simply make an arc unpublishable if there aren't the proper balances of minion/lieutenant/bosses and custom villain group power levels instead of nerfing XP.
The ability to create a group that doesn't contain all ranks can be useful, even with diminished xp. Speaking as a player, and one who is interested in rewards, I really don't care too much if that one all-Lt ambush gives reduced rewards.
And as for the custom group power levels, go create one that is set to all Hard/Hard, and see how you do against them. Use your toughest 50, on whatever difficulty you normally play on, and be sure to give them a nice variety of power sets, to simulate an actual story-based custom group. Go ahead. I'll be waiting when you get back from the hospital. -
Quote:Considering that "the system" in this case relies entirely on keeping people happy to remain viable, no, they're not two different things.Originally Posted by Venture
Everyone else on the other hand wants to see their characters advance and experience new content, not have to choose between one or the other.
I'm sure that's true, but what people want and what's good for the system are, as is almost always the case, two entirely different things. -
Review by PoliceWoman here.
Does contain spoilers. -
Quote:All those posts from people "looking for lowbie-friendly arcs 'cause I'm sick of Mercy and papers," as well as arcs advertised as such do show that it is being used by people who care about content. The fact that I see arcs with opposite-of-easy mode enemies such as Malta and Rularuu with over 100 ratings shows that it isn't just used as an easy mode.Originally Posted by Venture
I'd rather the system was used only by people who care about content and not by people looking for yet another Easy Mode. If that meant restricting it to a niche I'm OK with that.
It is also being used by people who care about content as well as advancing their character. I have said this before and I will say it again: The two are not mutually exclusive. People who don't care about content can go level off papers or the same Dev-created arcs they've played 15 times already. People who do care about content need new avenues of progression, or they will get bored and quit.